ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (4-6, 1-3 NSIC) finishes off their four-game homestand with a non-conference contest aganst Bethel (6-1, 4-0 MIAC) on Friday at 6 p.m. and a league game with Minnesota State (5-4, 1-3 NSIC) on Saturday at 4 p.m.

LAST TIME OUT
After falling to Upper Iowa in their NSIC home opener on Friday, the Golden Bears bounced back with their first league win with an 82-73 victory over Winona State.

Concordia took advantage of an efficient shooting night as they hit 51.0% (25-49) from the floor, 52.6% (10-19) from beyond the arc and 81.5% (22-27) from the free throw line on the night. The defense also played a role in the win as they held the Warriors to 40.9% (27-66) in the win.

Bryndan Matthews and Matt Ambriz combined to do a lot of the heavy lifting offensively as Mattews led all players with 23 points on 7-11 from the floor while Ambriz connected on 5-9 from deep to finish with 20 points. Matthews also contributed elsewhere with a game-best 13 rebounds for a massive double-double as well as a pair of assists and a pair of threes made.
 
In a game of runs, the Golden Bears utilized three different runs of at least 9-0 or better, including a 14-0 run in the second half to take the lead for good, in the win.

BU SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears will meet Bethel for the 29th time in the all-time series, entering in with a record of 6-22 in the previous meetings. The two schools have not met in 25 years, however, as all 28 meetings came from 1967-92. In the eight meetings taking place in St. Paul, Concordia has compiled a record of 1-7.

LAST MEETING VS BU
Back in the 1991-92 season, Concordia snapped a nine-game losing streak with the Royals with a 72-69 victory.

ABOUT THE ROYALS
The Royals enter Friday's matchup riding high as they have won six in a row after dropping their season opener. BU has been a force offensively, scoring 83 points or more in six of their seven contests so far.

Bethel has been especially dominant since opening MIAC play with four wins by at least eight points, including three double-digit victories in a row. Last week, the offense exploded as they hung 99 on St. Mary's (Minn.) in a 99-82 win on Wednesday before stifling Macalester in an 83-55 road win on Friday.
 
The backcourt duo of Brycen Wojta and Bridgeport Tusler have led the Royals so far as Wojta enters in averaging 17.3 points per game and Bridgeport Tusler has chipped in 16.1. Derek Magnuson paces the squad on the glass with 6.7 boards per game while Trevor Hall has contributed 4.7 assists per game.

MSU SERIES HISTORY
Saturday's contest between Concordia and Minnesota State marks the 26th meeting between the two school. In the previous 25 meetings, CSP has gone 6-19 against MSU. The series has been tipped in favor of the Mavericks over the past few years as MSU has won seven of the last eight meetings dating back to the 2012-13 season. The Golden Bears have found a bit more success on their home court against Minnesota State as they hold a record of 4-8 in the 12 meetings in St. Paul.

LAST MEETING VS MSU
Back on January 9th at Gangelhoff Center, the Mavericks took down the Golden Bears by a score of 82-66 to complete the season sweep.

The Golden Bears got off to a slow start offensively, making just three of their first 20 shots while Minnesota State was efficient in making 9-16 from the floor to build a 22-10 advantage past the halfway mark of the first half.

While Concordia was able to get going offensively slashing to the lane and in the post, the three-point shot didn't fall hitting just 5-20 (25.0%). MSU countered by knocking down 9-19 (47.4%), a big drop from the 17 three's they buried in Mankato in the first meeting.

Senior guard Cole Olstad scored 24 points to move into seventh on Concordia's career scoring list. Olstad shot 7-12 from the floor, 3-5 from three and 7-8 from the line while grabbing six rebounds and nabbing three steals. Concordia had four players reach double-figures in scoring as Shea Mandli scored 15 with eight rebounds (six offensive) while Diallo Powell matched him with 15, adding four steals. Bryndan Matthews also scored 10 points.

ABOUT THE MAVERICKS
After winning five of their first six to begin the year, the Mavericks have hit a rough patch as of late with three straight losses in NSIC play. MSU edged Wayne State in the conference opener before dropping their last three to Augustana, Winona State and Upper Iowa.
 
The NSIC home opening weekend didn't go as planned for Minnesota State as they saw Winona State shoot an incredible 72.0% in an 89-64 loss on Friday before Upper Iowa hit 55.0% in an 82-77 loss. The Mavericks lost just seven league games all season last year.
 
As a team, Minnesota State is averaging 83.1 points and 36.7 rebounds per game this season, while shooting 47.4% from the field. MSU is also outrebounding its opponents 36.7-34.9. Four Mavericks are averaging more than 10 points a game this season, including sophomore Joey Witthus, who is averaging 16.4 points a game. Senior Jon Fuqua is posting 14.6 points and a team-leading 6.8 rebounds a game, while junior Charlie Brown is chipping in with 15.1 points a game.

NSIC LEADERS
Throughout the early portion of the season, the Golden Bears have had several players rank near the top of the league in different statistical categories so far.

Bryndan Matthews has impressive filling up the stat sheet as he has put up top-25 numbers in nine categories so far. Matthews cleaned up the boards at a solid rate as his 7.8 rebounds per game rank fourth in the league (129th in the nation) while his 6.5 defensive boards per game are even better at second (77th in the nation). His 52.5% field goal percentage also ranks ninth.

Sharp-shooter Matt Ambriz has pushed himself all the way into the top-10 in the nation in three-point percentage at sixth with a mark of 56.6%, good for second in the league. Ambriz also ranks third in the league and 32nd in the country with 3.3 threes made per game.

Senior guard Diallo Powell has been a jack-of-all-trades for CSP as he currently ranks in the top-25 in the NSIC in seven categories, including ranking fourth with 1.3 steals per game, while Ahmad Newsome registers in at third (108th in NCAA DII) with 4.3 assists per game.

HOME SWEET HOME
Early in the young season, the Golden Bears have established a solid home court advantage as all four of their wins have come on their home court with just one loss in their five contests at Gangelhoff Center.

The Golden Bears have been better in nearly every statistical category on their home court so far as their scoring margin is a full 20.4 points better at Gangelhoff Center.  CSP enters the weekend averaging an impressive 80.0 points per game (63.4 on the road) while holding opponents to 77.2 points (81.0 on the road). They have been especially efficient from the floor and from deep as they have knocked down 51.4% from the floor and 43.1% from beyond the arc in the five home contests. Concordia has even been better at the free throw line as they have hit 77.8% from the line at home and 57.3% on the road.

Concordia's top three scorers have seen the biggest boost in their stats at home as Bryndan Matthews has put up 17.0 points and 8.8 boards at the GC and 13.4 points and 6.8 away from there. Diallo Powell's mark of 15.6 points at home outpaces his 9.6 points away while Matt Ambriz has put up 14.8 points in St. Paul and 7.8 points elsewhere.